Big Boss Interview

Tsai Ing-wen left Taiwan on Wednesday afternoon for a 10-day trip to visit Central American allies, Belize and Guatemala. The trip includes two stopovers, in New York on the way in, and Los Angeles on the way out. Tsai is expected to meet with the speaker, Kevin McCarthy in California, but is facing intimidation from the Chinese government.

(Picture: Tsai Ing-wen, President of Taiwan, poses for a picture. Picture Credit: Getty Images)

Over the last few years China gave billions dollars of loans across Asia, Europe and Africa. Now Beijing has also become a major emergency rescue lender to those same countries, many of which are struggling to repay their debts.

(Picture: Belt And Road Forum For International Cooperation. Picture Credit: Getty Images)

After a few weeks of bad news about bank failures, financial markets are slowly coming back to normal. Central banks around the world have stressed that the banking system is safe and lenders are well capitalised. Analysts, however, admit that risks to financial stability have increased.

(Picture: Glass front of a bank building. Picture Credit: Getty Images)

U.S. President Joe Biden has given himself a thumbs up for the way he has handled the banking crisis. He insists that people's savings are secure. Meanwhile, more than 150,000 fans are gathering in Miami for Ultra - one of the world's biggest festivals of electronic dance music. We also talk about the Roy family, whose epic squabbles and schemes propelled HBO's TV series Succession to a string of awards. How true is the show to real life?

Presenter Roger Hearing discusses these issues with Stella Bangura - an award winning TV presenter of a pan African Lifestyle TV show - On The Spot TV - who's in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and Sergio Guzman, director of Colombia Risk Analysis in Bogota. (Picture: U.S. President Joe Biden. Credit; Getty Images)

The Chinese app's boss, Shou Zi Chew, tried to defend the app from accusations that could lead to its ban in the US. We listen to what was said in the hearing and we discuss the future of TikTok.

(Picture: Shou Zi Chew. Picture credit: Reuters)

The US Federal Reserve has raised interest rates by 0.25%, bringing their benchmark interest rate to the 4.75%-5.00% range. The Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the US banking system was strong and resilient, as he announced the latest rate rise.

Presenter Roger Hearing discusses this and other global business news with Işın Eliçin, a senior media professional working at Medyascope in Istanbul, and Simon Littlewood, founder of ACG Growth Delivered in Singapore.

(Picture: Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell takes questions from the news media while holding a news conference after the Fed raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) on interest rate policy in Washington, U.S., March 22, 2023. Credit: REUTERS/Leah Millis)

Russia wants to sign an agreement with China to build a new pipeline through Siberia. The idea was put forward many years ago, but it has gained urgency as it wants China to replace Europe as its main gas customer. Google is rolling out it’s AI Chat Bard. It can access up-to-date information from the internet and has a "Google it" button which accesses search. The month of fasting for Muslims, Ramadan, is about to get underway. Dates are one fruit that is much sought after to break the fast and we hear from an Egyptian company that exports the fruit across the world. Presenter Roger Hearing discusses global business news with Colin Peacock a producer and presenter of Mediawatch, on Radio New Zealand based in Wellington, and Hayley Woodin the executive editor of the Canada based website and publication Business in Vancouver

The IMF have agreed on a $2.9bn bailout for Sri Lanka to help the country restructure its debts. This comes as it faces its worst economic crisis since independence.

China's leader Xi Jinping showed the importance of close relations between Russia and China at a dinner hosted by Vladimir Putin on Monday. This comes days after an international court called for the Russian president's arrest for war crimes in Ukraine.

The failure of financial institutions is a serious problem with human costs, but to some people it is also something to remember. There is a market in financial souvenirs and memorabilia and that has happened with Credit Suisse. Madison Darbyshire is a US investments reporter for the Financial Times in New York and has been writing about this phenomenon.

Half a trillion dollars have been wiped from the value of bank shares around the world as financial shocks dived this week.

The fallout is ongoing after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) spreads through global markets.

The authorities are stepping in to get the situation under control, but some deposit holders are still feeling nervous.

For now, many analysts say they think the shock will be contained.

(Picture: Silicon Valley Bank Collapse. Picture Credit: Getty Images)

There are fresh efforts to stabilise the global banking sector after big US banks come to rescue First Republic Bank.

What about those who never use banks at all? We hear about the challenges for the billions of unbanked around the world.

And the return of the sleeper train As Europe sees a boom in overnight rail services - what is the attraction of a midnight express?

(Picture: First Republic Bank is displayed on a monitor on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Source: Getty Images)